Pitavastatin: a distinctive lipid-lowering drug

Abstract

Addressing dyslipidemia is crucial to reducing the burden imposed by cardiovascular disease. However, many current statins have major limitations. Moreover, innovative treatments need to address non-LDL-C residual risk (which may be marked by high triglycerides, low HDL-C concentrations or raised ApoB:ApoA1 ratio) and increase the proportion of patients attaining treatment targets. Pitavastatin is a novel statin that induces plaque regression and is non-inferior to atorvastatin and, on some measures, superior to simvastatin and to pravastatin in the elderly. Pitavastatin addresses non-LDL-C risk factors, including producing reproducible and sustained increases in HDL-C levels. Both the pitavastatin molecule and the lactone metabolite undergo very little metabolism by CYP3A4 and, therefore, unlike some other statins, does not interact with CYP3A4 substrates. Pitavastatin is well tolerated. As such, pitavastatin shows distinctive pharmacokinetic and clinical profiles that should help a greater proportion of dyslipidemic patients attain their treatment goals.